"Spring awakening"

What’s new at Vienna’s Schanigärten this year

The warm temperatures make it tempting to sit outside.(Bild: Martin Jöchl)

The year-round operation of the Schanigärten is fixed. "The city's extended living rooms" therefore celebrated the "Spring Awakening" at Café Engländer on Praterstern.

Vienna's Schanigärten officially kicked off the spring season yesterday. Since the winter is now coming to an end, Vienna's operators can run their gardens all year round. The successful special regulation of recent years has become a permanent solution, and the "winter ski gardens" introduced a few years ago, which often consisted of just a few tables, are now history.

Ludwig, Café Engländer boss Christian Wukonigg, Ruck and Binder (from left).(Bild: klemens groh)

Not a matter of course
Around 3,500 Schanigärten are currently in operation in Vienna, half of which were open last winter. "The fact that they are open all the time is not a matter of course," said Mayor Michael Ludwig (SPÖ) at the "Spring Awakening" of the Schanigärten at Café Engländer on Praterstern. Some district heads (note: 1st, 7th and 8th districts) were opposed to this, fearing noise and too many hot mushrooms.

Heated mushrooms with motion sensors should protect the environment in future.(Bild: Karl Schöndorfer / picturedesk.com)

"We took these concerns seriously and drew up strict rules," says Ludwig. The Group for Immediate Measures carries out checks, and there have been 120 complaints, ranging from fines to the loss of permits. And soon, some businesses will be equipped with heating sponges with motion sensors.

In 1754, the first pub garden opened spontaneously on the Graben. The landlord's assistant, the Schani, simply placed a few tables and chairs in front of his establishment - without a permit at the time, of course. The name supposedly comes from the request "Schani, take the garden out".

Today, setting up a pub garden is strictly regulated, as are the tariffs, which are divided into three zones. Zone 1 (City, Mariahilfer Straße) is the most expensive at 23.10 euros per square meter per month. Zone 2 charges 11.70 euros - in pedestrian zones, squares or shopping streets. Zone 3 is the cheapest at 2.40 euros. This applies to "normal" streets and residential streets.

Years of hardship
Walter Ruck, President of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that restaurateurs would now also save themselves the costly construction and dismantling of outdoor seating areas. This is important after the past years of hardship.

More pavement cafés
Tourism has already made a brilliant comeback, from which the coffee houses are also benefiting. "For the Viennese, they are their second living room," says Wolfgang Binder, Chairman of the Viennese Coffee Houses. The number of Schanigärten has remained constant so far, but he expects an increase due to the year-round availability.